arlisna2010 Conference 1st Time Attendee Suggestions

Rachel Resnik and Hannah Bennett are developing content for the 1st Timers section of the conference website. They definitely liked our Conference Survival Guide, and are interested in content that could be useful, informative, and/or fun. Please list your suggestions in the comments sections below. We’ll make sure that they see them.

Here was my response:

Thanks for reaching out to us! Conferences are perfect for scavenger hunts (fun category). Learn more about ARLIS/NA through one?

Definitely a pdf of the survival guide on the site…maybe an html version with the pdf so folks can print? We’ll make sure that you get the most up-to-date version in the next 2 weeks.

I’ll post something on ArLiSNAP and see if any SNAPers have suggestions.

It would be interesting if you took a 1st timer and asked them to journal their experience from start to finish on their personal blog. We could then pipe in updates (through an RSS widget subscribed to a particular tag that person assigns for the posts) & link to that persons blog. I think something like this might give a very personal/human connection to other 1st timers. If it turns out to be a positive experience for the blogger, then we’ll have a brand advocate and member for life. This is something akin to what I did for my 3M/NMRT grant http://bryanloar.blogspot.com/search/label/ala2006

There might be some info that you could parse from Lauren Pressley’s breakdown of ACRL’s 1st time attendee orientation meeting – http://laurenpressley.com/library/2009/03/first-time-attendees-orientation/

You could also reach out to Merinda Hensley, Convener, ACRL New Member Discussion Group, mhensle1 [at] illinois [dot] edu – she was listed on ALA’s 2009 conference wiki under the 1st timers & new members section: http://wikis.ala.org/annual2009/index.php/Events_for_First_Timers_and_New_Members

>Definitely a pdf of the survival guide on the site…maybe an html version with the pdf so folks can print? We’ll make sure that you get the most up-to-date version in the next 2 weeks.

On that note, something for smartphones would be great, as well. Doesn’t necessarily have to be a specific app, but a mobile-friendly version of the guide for reference-on-the-fly is something I would be more inclined to refere to rather than totaing around a printed pdf.